Biomass is one of the largest and most readily available energy sources known to man. Biomass is found in immature forms, such as wood, shells, husks and peat. Vast amounts of biomass are also available in the form of lignite, sub-bituminous, bituminous and anthracite coal. Man has been releasing the energy trapped in the aforementioned materials ever since he discovered and was able to master fire. The inefficient release of these vast energy reserves, however, has resulted in a degradation of the quality of the atmosphere and the environment. The increasing demand for energy, created by man's insatiable appetite for the products made available by an industrialized society, have created a need to release this energy in a safe. clean and environmentally responsible manner.
Prior processes have recognized that heating coal removes the moisture and, as a result, enhances the rank and BTU production of the coal. It is also known that this pyrolysis activity alters the complex hydrocarbons present in coal to a simpler set of hydrocarbons. This molecular transformation results in a more readily combustible coal. Processes have been developed using high temperature (in excess of the coal's auto-ignition point). This high temperature art requires the control of the atmosphere in which this heated coal is treated in order to eliminate the auto-ignition of the coal. However, these high temperature, atmosphere-controlling devices produce an unstable product. The “shocked or face powdered” coal produced in these furnaces created a need to reassemble this treated material into a manufactured form (briquette). Processes were then developed which include grinding of the coal into a material less than 3/16″ (fines). These fines are pyrolized to reduce the moisture and volatile matter, usually at temperatures ranging from 400 F to 700 F. These fines are then mixed with a binder, which is either inherent or foreign to the process. The resulting mixture is formed into predetermined sized briquettes. The resulting briquettes are low or void of moisture, modestly stable and devolatilized to some degree.
These prior processes require from 2 to 6 hours to complete. They are slow and costly, both in capitalization costs and production costs. A need exists for an improved process for treating coal to increase its rank while reducing the time and cost of completing the process. The present invention seeks to fulfill that need.